I am off from work today so I decided to see if I could live off of just one paycheck. The answer is NO. As it is, I am living pretty lean due to my debt repayment. My monthly budget is…$2648.71…and that’s with me just paying the minimums on my debts and not including savings but does includes $100 for my car/gas and $400 discretionary spending and $300 for groceries. I make $3000/month after taxes/deductions without OT. So, the reality is that I have about $1151.29 a month to play with in my monthly budget.

But most months, I bring in at least $500 extra in OT. So, the OT I work gives me some breathing room so that when if an emergency occurs that I can absorb it into my budget without having to dip into savings.

I will get a $10K pay raise at the end of September 09.

So for now, the reality is that I cannot live on one paycheck (yet) but my budget helps me to focus on repaying debt, thereby, saving mo’ money and building up the Benjamins.